Board Games

[cschex]

Waterdeep is a fun game that I'm much more interested in buying now after seeing what the expansion adds. More lords removes some of the obviousness of knowing what bonuses your opponents have and the corruption mechanic seems pretty cool. I got some Amazon giftcards for Father's Day and I'm debating between Waterdeep or Survive.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

I have been thinking of trying out Roller Rumble for years. I'm guessing that is your fault, as I'm sure I learned about it here.

If you remember the TV era of roller derby then it's a remarkable game IMO.
For me, it feels more like what's it trying to recreate than any sports game I've come across.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by cschex

Waterdeep is a fun game that I'm much more interested in buying now after seeing what the expansion adds. More lords removes some of the obviousness of knowing what bonuses your opponents have and the corruption mechanic seems pretty cool. I got some Amazon giftcards for Father's Day and I'm debating between Waterdeep or Survive.

Both have done well at the game night I run, but the edge goes to LoW so far. I think it might be the favorite overall right now. My friend who I played D&D with talked about it quite a bit after his first play. My only complaint is it feels like 85% of game so once the expansion hits, I don't even see playing without it.

[tarcone]

Im thinking seriously of taking a walk into the war gaming genre. I am looking for a solo game. And I think Im going to purchase Thunderbolt Apache Leader. I asked for recommendations on BGG and this is the one that seems to be one I could really get into.

As for the Rooler Rumble discovery and the comment about the NBA game under the bed. I have a Statis Pro Baseball season that I started in 1981. I made four 4 team divisions and started playing a 162 game season. I still have the game and the season. I am in game 158. But Im reluctant to finish. I guess I feel a bit of my childhood will end if I finiah the season. I kept stats for all the players on paper. And have them all. I am disappointed in my lack of some stats. But I was young.

Love those old text sims.

And Here is a link to s site with Paydirt and some other old sports games. I havent delved to deep into the site, but they own the rights to the formulas used in the original games. Odd Man Games is what it is called.

HOME PAGE

[Matthean]

I haven't bought a wargame that is specifically built for solo play, but TAL would likely be the one I would pick. Marco gives a good overview of it.

[Solecismic]

Played the new 2-player version of Le Havre last night. I haven't played the full version, but the person I played against has. We both thought it was dreadful. My complaint was that it seemed rather random, even though there's very little luck element. Her's was that it sucked a lot of the fun out of the original game in order to cut game time. Still, it was a long game for two players (almost two hours, though certainly subsequent plays would get shorter).

The game board for resources was a nice touch, but you either accumulate resources or you don't. I liked that you both had to move resources to the right and up to do certain things, but that tied you into specific strategies. You can "use" your opponent's buildings. I think that was added in late so that it wouldn't be a completely inter-actless game that depended solely on who got to go first in each round. But the rent seems too low for using them, and it's too powerful early on and not powerful enough later.

My guess is if you go first, you play a money strategy and if you go second in round one, you play a resource strategy. Going first is very important when the powerful buildings for your strategy become available.

In all, I think it's a complete waste of money - wish I had played it elsewhere before buying. Though my friends swears I'll like the full game of Le Havre if we can move our gaming sessions to a period when we can play for an entire day.

[tarcone]

So I sat down and started into TAL. I punched it. Looked at it. Then I opened the rule book. The rulebook is pretty easy to understand and straight forward. It took me some time to get through the set up section. I quit there. It took some time to see what the rulebook was saying about the units and cards. That was enough for a night.
Im going back tomorrow and am going to set up a game then read through the rules as I play. That is the best way for me to learn a game. So tomorrow I will really get into it and try and play a scenario.

This game looks really cool. I cant wait to learn how to play. And really start to play.

[CleBrownsfan]

Had a buddy come over to play Descent (2nd edition / with expansion) We played the intro lvl and the 1 of 2 encounter of Fat Goblin. He (Heroes) beat me (Overlord) pretty handily in the intro and I stole 3 of 4 bunches of "food" in the 1st half of Fat Goblin. We both loved it and I am sure it will be the go to game for some time!

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

Had a buddy come over to play Descent (2nd edition / with expansion) We played the intro lvl and the 1 of 2 encounter of Fat Goblin. He (Heroes) beat me (Overlord) pretty handily in the intro and I stole 3 of 4 bunches of "food" in the 1st half of Fat Goblin. We both loved it and I am sure it will be the go to game for some time!

Glad to hear you enjoyed it The intro mission is laughably easy for the heroes, interested to hear how the second half of Fat Goblin plays out.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

Played the new 2-player version of Le Havre last night. I haven't played the full version, but the person I played against has. We both thought it was dreadful. My complaint was that it seemed rather random, even though there's very little luck element. Her's was that it sucked a lot of the fun out of the original game in order to cut game time. Still, it was a long game for two players (almost two hours, though certainly subsequent plays would get shorter).

The game board for resources was a nice touch, but you either accumulate resources or you don't. I liked that you both had to move resources to the right and up to do certain things, but that tied you into specific strategies. You can "use" your opponent's buildings. I think that was added in late so that it wouldn't be a completely inter-actless game that depended solely on who got to go first in each round. But the rent seems too low for using them, and it's too powerful early on and not powerful enough later.

My guess is if you go first, you play a money strategy and if you go second in round one, you play a resource strategy. Going first is very important when the powerful buildings for your strategy become available.

In all, I think it's a complete waste of money - wish I had played it elsewhere before buying. Though my friends swears I'll like the full game of Le Havre if we can move our gaming sessions to a period when we can play for an entire day.

LeHavre is one of my favorite games, but I'll admit that I didn't really enjoy my first two plays. I only stuck with it because I could see the potential of building a successful economic engine. In my third outing, late in the game, something clicked and I put together a late run using a shipping strategy. If one of my opponents hadn't come across an "engine" of his own, my late run would have been enough.

As for your feeling that starting position can lock you into a strategy, I'll disagree. Starting position can queue you up for initial plays like, taking the franc tile and then buying the "8" construction yard or buying the Market place on your first turn. There are a few quick combos that starting position impacts, this is mitigated by the fact that the order of the goods tiles is random and hidden during the first pass across the board.

Your strategy is more of a mid-game decision, once you've established some sort of a foundation based on your early selections. The two basic strategies are building buildings and shipping goods. You can also be successful with a hybrid approach, and these are often influenced by the "special buildings" cards. I've seen a guy make a crazy combo using the zoo that allowed him to nearly run away with the game. We had to strategically waste one or two of our own actions to slow him down.

Oh on the building "rents" being too low...If you think those rents are low, you have too much food =). Go into debt and invest your actions into something else.

Again, the long game is much more satisfying than the short game, and I found it difficult and head ache inducing my first few times out. However once it clicked, it really worked well for me.

So I'll suggest you give it a couple more tries before you write it off. What's the worst that can happen, but a couple of headaches?

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

If you remember the TV era of roller derby then it's a remarkable game IMO.
For me, it feels more like what's it trying to recreate than any sports game I've come across.

Knock that off! You aren't helping me hold off. My wife has started talking about curbing my game buying habits again already. I'm trying really hard not to give her any fuel for that particular fire.

That said...What sets of players are you using? The historic ones or the fictional sets? In most games, I prefer the fictional route. However, I don't really have any memories of the players themselves from back in the day. I just remember watching, and having fun rooting for random teams.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Had 7 people tonight, so we were able to play our first ever full-table game of 7 Wonders. The game doesn't play much different with 7 than with 5 or 6, but it was still a fun game. The winner took it with a balanced approach, slight emphasis on military and science. The player who focused entirely on science was able to get 25 points out of green cards, but only ended up in 4th place. I was the runner up with an ignore science approach, balanced military with a slight emphasis on blue victory cards. Still haven't played it enough to identify strong base strategies, but it appears the game is well balanced enough that you're going to want to be flexible based upon your neighbors' strategies. When the player on my right decided not to play ANY resource cards in the entire first age, I had to switch things up because I couldn't rely on him to produce anything. Almost pulled it out...but came up 5 points short (58-53).

Also got a 6-player game of Game of Thrones in tonight, first in a while (we're usually 5 players). It's incredible how much more balanced the game is with a full complement.

I have remarkably bad luck rolling dice, and for the last 4 times we've played Game of Thrones, I get to choose my house last. Which means I've been Greyjoy 4 times in a row (house preference tends to lean toward Baratheon/Lannister/Tyrell as the top choices). Finally notched my first win this evening despite playing the entire first half of the game without bidding on the influence tracks - so I had no 'Starred' options for my planning phase for half the game. Made nice with the Starks early, we decided to split the Neck - he'd go down the eastern half toward the Eyrie, I'd stick in Lannister's craw around the twins. Caught a break and wiped out the entire Lannister fleet, secured Lannisport and Riverrun, then turned on Stark and marched on Winterfell to complete the sweep on the second to last turn.

I've come around on House Greyjoy strategy wise - their house cards are incredibly strong, and if you can stay afloat (groan) until it's time to bid on the influence tracks (and you've been hoarding power tokens), then you end up a very strong competitor. Focus early musters on ships, snag Seagaurd and take control of Ironman's Bay and you have a strong starting position.

Game of Thrones is easily the house favorite right now, with Power Grid and Eclipse getting the most table time after GoT.

[tarcone]

I have a game set up for today. Starts in about an hour. Looks like only 4 of us today. But that means Empires of the Void is going to hit the table first. Hopefully.
Not sure what else will hit the table. Maybe Dominant Species as well. But learning one new game may be all we can do.

[tarcone]

Great day of gaming. We played Empires of the Void and Tammany Hall.
It was everyone 1st game of EotV. That is an outstanding game. I like it more than Eclipse. Not as deep as Eclipse but that's what i liked. Good techs. Great planet bonuses. Nice variety of ships. Love the event and diplomacy cards. Our group really liked this game. I do wish there was a little more variety on the board to mix up planets and their bonuses.

Tammany was fun as usual. I was leading until the last election. I got teamed up on and that killed me. Finished 2nd. This is a group favorite.

Overall a very good day of gaming.

[Matthean]

I know some on BGG say they like EotV better, but I've never played it so I'm uncertain how much I would like it, or if I would ever want to get it. It costs too much to do a blind buy on it.

[tarcone]

I bought it blind. And Im glad I did. It is a 4 player game. It isnt euro like Eclipse.
I learned a lot when I played. I didnt research some of the techs I should have. I didnt move as much as I ahould have. Left ships anchored to my planets. It doesnt take as long as Eclipse, though. And you cant really turtle. If there is an aggressive player or 2, turtling will really not help at all.

But you are probably right about playing before buying. But I will be trading my copy of Eclipse. This scratches my Sci-fi gaming itch. In fact I was thinking of checking out Hegemonic when it comes out. But I doubt I will be looking at that now.

[Matthean]

I researched it again. It's from Game Salute so you buy it from them, Amazon, or a LFGS who has partnered with GS, and there's no real discount so it's $60, which is on the high side. I looked up reviews in the 6-7 range and the rules are suppose to be horrendous with an updated rule set already out. They even changed the number of actions you get on a turn. Add in other add-ons post production and people are saying it isn't really a finished game. There's an expansion being worked on that's taking extra long to get done, but it might be worth a revisit after it is. My LFGS has a copy, but I don't recall a demo copy being an option.

[tarcone]

I bought it from an auction on BGG for $40. The rules are not too bad. There were a lot of clarifications in my edition in the rule book. As for more actions, I could see that. 3 is almost not enough. At the end game. I had a powerful fleet that were not close enough to do anything.
But then again, you have to really plan what to do with your 3 actions.
The one thing I didnt like was the one ship that could move 6 spaces. It could only be gotten from taking a planet. It was a ship that was almost too powerful for only one person to have.
But, I will re-iterate, I like it a lot more then Eclipse.

It does offer a lot of replay value. There are about 10 different races. And 24 (I believe) event cards. And you only use 9 in a game.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Tammany was fun as usual. I was leading until the last election. I got teamed up on and that killed me. Finished 2nd. This is a group favorite.

It became an instant favorite with my group too, highly recommend it.

[Matthean]

There's a mini expansion to Keyflower on Kickstarter for $5. If you don't own the game, you can get both for $39. Keyflower normally sells for $50. The KS offers free shipping as well.

[Danny]

Have you played key flower?

[Matthean]

It's about the only thing I haven't done. I watched Rahdo's Run Through, which is nearly 47 minutes of gameplay and review. I bought it, read the rules, and took it to game night, but we decided to play something else. I'll likely do a solo multiplayer play of it before I take it again just to make sure I have everything further down and get a better feel for it. It has moved up to #106 on BGG. I have played Tzolk'in and to me this seems more interesting.

[bob]

Has anyone played Forbidden Desert yet? If so, is it worth getting if you already have Forbidden Island?

[Matthean]

I just checked, and it looks like it only officially came out in Europe unless there were some copies at Origins. The US keeps getting pushed back and now is in July. CSI even list it at September.

I started to play Dominion online. I still am terrible at this game, and it doesn't click for me like other games. Deck builders as a whole haven't really either for me. It's interesting, I think Mage Knight with its mass of rules has easier decisions than Dominion does even though it has like four pages of rules. I know one person at least will argue that Dominion or other deck builders avoid the issue of a bad draw compared to CCGs or other card games, but I simply don't see how. The fact that you have a bad hand one turn simply means you have a better hand coming in any type of card game. I'll still give it an 8, but move it lower in the mass of games I gave the same rating to.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Matthean

I just checked, and it looks like it only officially came out in Europe unless there were some copies at Origins. The US keeps getting pushed back and now is in July. CSI even list it at September.

I started to play Dominion online. I still am terrible at this game, and it doesn't click for me like other games. Deck builders as a whole haven't really either for me. It's interesting, I think Mage Knight with its mass of rules has easier decisions than Dominion does even though it has like four pages of rules. I know one person at least will argue that Dominion or other deck builders avoid the issue of a bad draw compared to CCGs or other card games, but I simply don't see how. The fact that you have a bad hand one turn simply means you have a better hand coming in any type of card game. I'll still give it an 8, but move it lower in the mass of games I gave the same rating to.

The idea is that you choose every card that goes into your deck, outside the starter cards. And there are usually mechanisms in place to remove cards, so you can get rid of those if you don't like them. Certainly there are less beneficial hands, but with a well-built deck, you can always have a good play to make.

[Danny]

I've played dominion enough to know the better player usually wins, especially sine that is not me

[tarcone]

Im not a fan of Dominion. But I just dont like deck building. And I agree with Danny.

[mckerney]

I've played enough Puerto Rico to know the guy who is sitting to the left of the worst player usually wins.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

The idea is that you choose every card that goes into your deck, outside the starter cards. And there are usually mechanisms in place to remove cards, so you can get rid of those if you don't like them. Certainly there are less beneficial hands, but with a well-built deck, you can always have a good play to make.

But Dominion doesn't always add ways to trash cards. Even if there are ways to trash cards, you come back to the same basics. Everybody starts with the same deck and adds from the same cards. All players are still at the mercy of the card draw.

Started to look through the Race for the Galaxy rulebook, and I'm still amazed somebody decided to design cards with I-V on them versus the words of what the actions actually are.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by mckerney

It became an instant favorite with my group too, highly recommend it.

Tammany hall totally flopped with my group the first time out. No body willing to deal or negotiate, and a couple of guys who didn't like from the outset. Mostly declaring that the leaders got huge rewards making it harder for the pack to catch up.

I liked it myself,but I don't think it is the sure fire hit I thought it was going to be.

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by Matthean

Started to look through the Race for the Galaxy rulebook, and I'm still amazed somebody decided to design cards with I-V on them versus the words of what the actions actually are.

Your amazement is only beginning. I love Race for the Galaxy and it's one of the games we play the most. But the guy who designed it clearly does not think like other human beings. The amount of symbols he crams into the cards, in what he clearly thinks is an intuitive fashion, is mindboggling. It took an entire game just to crack the code the first time we played.

[Coffee Warlord]

Took down Iron Legacy over the weekend, in a 4 person game of Sentinels.

And ya know, we've tried Seven Wonders multiple times now, and I just can't get into it. I *want* to like the game, but it just doesn't click with me.

[Danny]

Probably too high a price point for many here but I sold my reaper bones for $250 so I am going in at $280 for Cthulhu wars which seems super awesome to me!

Cthulhu Wars by Sandy Petersen — Kickstarter

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by mckerney

I've played enough Puerto Rico to know the guy who is sitting to the left of the worst player usually wins.

Assuming players of equal ability. A superior player can compensate, but it certainly can throw a wrench in things.

I've found if you take PRE-emotive captains or sub-optimal craftsmanship can alleviate this, since most new players craft and captain at the wrong times. At least if you are controlling when, you can deny the player sitting to the left of the weak player reaping the full fruits of sitting in the advantageous position.

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Took down Iron Legacy over the weekend, in a 4 person game of Sentinels.

And ya know, we've tried Seven Wonders multiple times now, and I just can't get into it. I *want* to like the game, but it just doesn't click with me.

Taht's too bad, Seven Wonders seems the most wildly popular game of the ones we have. My biggest game geek friend loves it, but it also works with newbies and kids.

[Matthean]

7 Wonders didn't feel as gateway as I had assumed it was meant to be. I messed up on the military aspect on my first play, or I would have done at least decent, but it felt like I didn't know what just happened either. I would like to get some more plays of it though. My intro to it was rather brief so I did what I could.

[Coffee Warlord]

My biggest problem with it I think is it's so reliant on the people to your side - you're royally fucked if your neighbors can't produce what you need (also if your neighbors don't need anything you have, thus making earning money hard as hell), and it's nigh impossible to dig yourself out of it if you have the wrong leaders. This can cause a chain reaction too, with one side of the table being completely screwed.

[tarcone]

I checked into the Empire of the Void issues on BGG. There is a free PnP expansion. I am going to print it tonight. And there is a new rule book that I will print as well. The expansion adds 4 new races and some new Techs. So I think it will make the game even better then it already is.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Matthean

7 Wonders didn't feel as gateway as I had assumed it was meant to be. I messed up on the military aspect on my first play, or I would have done at least decent, but it felt like I didn't know what just happened either. I would like to get some more plays of it though. My intro to it was rather brief so I did what I could.

I've found it can be bad if there's one new person with experienced players. I was playing in a 4 person game where 3 of us had a lot of games played and it was the first for the other. The new guy built tons of brown resources resources despite me trying to hint at him he might want to do otherwise without trying to sound like a dick. The result was me and the other person next to him didn't have to build any and just used markets to buy cheap off of him and the person sitting across the table wound up not having enough resources to build anything. The two people sitting next to the new player had the two highest scores we've ever had while the other two had two of the lowest.

[tarcone]

4 of us are getting together for another game of Empires of the Void. I got the free PnP expansion. It does change the game and does add to it. Should be an even better game.
Will be a short session. One game of EotV and then possible another depending on time.
I will report back on how the expansion addd tot he game.

[Autumn]

7 Wonders definitely takes a couple game sto get an idea of how to score, what to emphasize. What I love is I don't feel ilke there's only one right way to play, so there's more replay value. Heck my son on his first game (he was 9) basically only played Science cards and ended up with a decent score, some ridiculous value for science and almost nothing else.

[Thomkal]

Thought the Board gamers here would like this-a top 10 (actually top 10's from 3 people) list of Essential Games every gamer should own-done by Tom Vesel and thedicetower gang.

Top Ten Essential Games EVERY Gamer Should Own - YouTube

[tarcone]

I watched that earlier today. The one game that really jumped out at me was Jamaica. That may be my next purchase. I think my family would like that.

[Matthean]

I bought a 1966 copy of Acquire from a BGG auction last year, so I finally broke that open to play a solo four-player game since I wanted something easy to pick up and play. I'll finish the game tomorrow, but it is a fascinating little game.

[PadresFan104]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Thought the Board gamers here would like this-a top 10 (actually top 10's from 3 people) list of Essential Games every gamer should own-done by Tom Vesel and thedicetower gang.

Top Ten Essential Games EVERY Gamer Should Own - YouTube

Thanks for the link. Went out and bought Pandemic and played two games with the family. Love it!

[Vince, Pt. II]

Pandemic is pretty fun, but our group agrees with Jim (Solecismic)'s review: eventually, it feels like you're playing Clock Solitaire. If the outbreak cards are in the wrong place, you lose no matter what you do. If they're not, you're probably going to win.

I still enjoy it, but it doesn't get too much table time at our place.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by PadresFan104

Thanks for the link. Went out and bought Pandemic and played two games with the family. Love it!

Glad I could provide some fun for the family

[Matthean]

I'm actually surprised Pandemic wasn't on more of their lists, but for some reason the Dice Tower guys love Shadows over Camelot.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Thought the Board gamers here would like this-a top 10 (actually top 10's from 3 people) list of Essential Games every gamer should own-done by Tom Vesel and thedicetower gang.

Top Ten Essential Games EVERY Gamer Should Own - YouTube

Is there somewhere that lists what their top 10 was without having to watch the video?

[Matthean]

Sam:
10. Gemblo
9. Kahuna
8. Say Anything
7. Small World
6. Jamaica
5. Summoner Wars
4. King of Tokyo
3. Stone Age
2. Shadows over Camelot
1. Ticket to Ride

Zee:
10. Telestrations
9. Biblios
8. TZAAR
7. Nexus Opus
6. Werewolf
5. Jamaica
4. Shadows over Camelot
3. Factory Fun
2. King of Tokyo
1. Pillars of Earth

Tom:
10. Pillars of the Earth
9. Summoner Wars
8. Dominion
7. The Resitence
6. Lost Cities
5. Wits and Wagers
4. King of Tokyo
3. No Thanks!
2. Tickect to Ride
1. Pandemic